Review of Anna and Solomon, by Elaine Snyder and Harry Bliss

Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

anna_and_solomon_largeAnna & Solomon

by Elaine Snyder
pictures by Harry Bliss

Margaret Ferguson Books, Farrar Straus Giroux, 2014. 32 pages.
Starred Review

Our library system has this shelved among the biographies, but to me it’s simply a warm and wonderful picture book that happens to be true. No one would do a report on these people, they aren’t famous, but their story has the flavor of a folktale.

It turns out, as I learned from the back cover, the distinguished illustrator Harry Bliss asked his mother-in-law to put the story of her grandparents into writing. He knew a good picture book story when he heard one!

The story begins in 1897 in Russia, when Solomon and Anna got married in the Jewish quarter of the town of Vitebsk. They are happy together and very much in love, but when the Czar’s soldiers come through, they think it’s time to make the journey to America.

However, they only have enough money to pay for one passage across the ocean. Anna tells Solomon to go ahead of her, and send her money when he’s made enough to pay for her passage.

Solomon goes to America and works hard, always thinking of Anna. He sends her money and goes to meet her ship with flowers. Instead of Anna, her brother Label comes off the ship.

Label was Anna’s youngest brother. He was small and skinny, and Solomon remembered how protective Anna had always been of him. Why was he here? Where was Anna?

Label carefully explained to him that Anna had used the money Solomon sent not for herself but for her brother’s passage instead.

Oy, oy, it was a great blow to Solomon, but he saw that Anna was right. Label could not be left behind; Anna had to be certain that he would be safe.

Solomon took Label home.

And it goes on. The next time Solomon sends money for passage, Anna’s older brother comes off the ship, and then Anna’s mother. She still has a sister left. Will Anna ever come?

Since the book is written by Anna and Solomon’s granddaughter, I’m not giving away too much by saying that Anna eventually does arrive. Their story is told with heart and compassion and a true Happy Ever After.

mackids.com

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of Grandfather Gandhi, by Arun Gandhi, Bethany Hegedus, and Evan Turk

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

grandfather_gandhi_largeGrandfather Gandhi

by Arun Gandhi and Bethany Hegedus
illustrated by Evan Turk

Atheneum Books for Young Readers, New York, 2014. 40 pages.
Starred Review

This book is shelved with the biographies in our library, and technically it’s nonfiction, but this isn’t so much the story of someone’s life as it is a true story that children will relate to and that makes a magnificent picture book.

Arun Gandhi is the grandson of the famous Mahatma, Mohandas K. Gandhi. This picture book tells the story of when he met his grandfather, who was already a revered spiritual leader.

He moved to the Sevagram ashram from South Africa when he was twelve years old, and had to adjust to no electricity or television, learning a new language, sharing his grandfather with many followers, new foods, and feeling like he could never measure up to the expectations of being a Gandhi.

It seemed everyone around him was good at peace and tranquility, but Arun kept finding anger welling up inside him. Finally, after an explosive incident on the soccer field, Arun got to talk with his grandfather, who admitted that even he felt anger. But anger, like electricity, has two sides. It can strike like lightning and cause destruction, or it can work in a lamp and bring light.

This story is specific to this boy’s upbringing, but it is universal in its appeal. Every child understands wondering if they will measure up to the expectations of others. And every child understands the difficulty of dealing with anger.

The art in this book is striking, using collage including cloth and thread. I especially liked how Arun’s anger was expressed in a cloud of black thread encircling him and the resonant shapes done with shadows.

This is a lovely book, and gently and without preaching is a vehicle for bringing up important topics. It’s all told from a child’s perspective, in a natural way, and will appeal to children and adults from any culture and any religion.

arungandhi.org
bethanyhegedus.com
evanturk.com
KIDS.SimonandSchuster.com

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of Secrets of the Sky Caves, by Sandra K. Athans

Adventure, Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Science 0

secrets_of_the_sky_caves_largeSecrets of the Sky Caves

Danger and Discovery on Nepal’s Mustang Cliffs

by Sandra K. Athans

Millbrook Press (Lerner), Minneapolis, 2014. 64 pages.

Shades of Indiana Jones! Here’s a nonfiction book about modern archaeology, complete with danger, religious artifacts, wall murals, ancient manuscripts, and plenty of human remains.

In the Mustang region of Nepal, nestled high in the Himalayas near Mount Everest, high in the soft stone of the cliffs are thousands of caves, where ancient people used to make their homes, probably to escape fighting over the Silk Road.

This book details recent expeditions to explore the caves. Pete Athans, American world-class mountain climber, led the expedition, and brought along his wife Liesl Clark, who is also a world-class mountain climber, and their two children. The children have set a record as the youngest outsiders to enter the district of Mustang. Pete Athans’ sister is the author of the book.

Pete Athans has climbed Mount Everest, but the Mustang cliffs, with their brittle rock faces, are perhaps even more dangerous.

The photographs in the book are many and varied. The story of the exploration is fascinating as they had to use mountain-climbing techniques to uncover these cave cities – and then found artifacts like an ancient mural, thousands of pages of an old manuscript, ancient pottery, and even human and animal remains.

Scientists study the different artifacts in different ways, and for each step, permission was needed from the government of Nepal. A scholar who could read ancient Tibetan was needed for the manuscripts. A geneticist who can extract DNA was needed for the human remains. And of course archaeologists are involved in uncovering the rich artifacts buried in the tombs. And all the scientists have to learn rock climbing to access the finds.

This book is sure to get kids interested in archaeology, as well as the many other areas of science involved in learning about the ancient past. Or perhaps exploration and rock-climbing.

lernerbooks.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of The Griffin and the Dinosaur, by Marc Aronson

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Science 0

griffin_and_the_dinosaur_largeThe Griffin and the Dinosaur

How Adrienne Mayor Discovered a Fascinating Link Between Myth and Science

by Marc Aronson with Adrienne Mayor
illustrated by Chris Muller

National Geographic, Washington, DC, 2014. 48 pages.

Here’s a picture book biography of a scientist readers probably haven’t heard of, but whose work, which continues to the present day, is fascinating.

Adrienne grew up interested in the natural world around her and also interested in Greek myths. As she studied Greek writings and Greek art over a course of years, she became convinced that the Greeks were basing their stories on things they had actually seen.

The book traces Adrienne’s thought processes and dead ends until she finally established a connection between Greek tales of Scythian gold hunters and abundant fossilized bones of Protoceratops

Adrienne’s decade-long quest to prove that the griffin legend was based on a real fossil always had a larger aim. She was certain that the peoples of the ancient world had been as attentive to fossils and bones as we are today. If the Cyclops was an extinct mammoth and the griffin was a Protoceratops, surely many other myths and legends were based on observation, not fantasy. Which ones?

This book is an introduction to the topic that is sure to pull in readers. We’ve got Greek mythology and dinosaurs, combined. What could possibly have more kid appeal?

marcaronson.com
kids.nationalgeographic.com

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of Dare the Wind, by Tracey Fern

Adventure, Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

dare_the_wind_largeDare the Wind

The Record-Breaking Voyage of Eleanor Prentiss and the Flying Cloud

by Tracey Fern
pictures by Emily Arnold McCully

Margaret Ferguson Books, Farrar Straus Giroux, New York, 2014. 36 pages.
Starred Review

How wonderful! A nineteenth century young woman navigated clipper ships for her sea captain husband and actually broke speed records because of her daring and mathematical prowess! Who knew? Now this is a true story I’m eager for little girls to know about!

The book starts with Ellen Prentiss as a child, loving the sea. Her father teaches her how to navigate. The illustration shows her using a sextant outside their house, by the sea, under her father’s observation. “Ellen worked for hours by the kitchen fire, learning the complicated calculations needed to navigate a ship.”

Ellen eventually marries a sea captain, Perkins Creesy. He becomes captain of a new clipper ship, built for speed.

If Ellen and Perkins could make the trip faster than any ship ever had, they would receive a bonus – and bragging rights as the best sailors in the world. It was the adventure Ellen had always dreamed of catching!

The author goes on to dramatize Ellen and Perkins’ record-breaking journey, using information from the log. There was plenty of adventure on the voyage, including a broken mast, and time spent in the Doldrums, with Ellen taking a daring new route to escape them.

In the end, on August 31, 1851, they reached their destination and brought passengers and cargo to the California Gold Rush faster than any other ship ever had.

An Author’s Note at the back gives more details of the journey, along with sources of more information for the curious reader.

This is a wonderful picture book about a woman who used her brains to become the best in the world!

traceyfern.com
emilyarnoldmccully.com

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of Randolph Caldecott: The Man Who Could Not Stop Drawing, by Leonard Marcus

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Starred Review 0

randolph_caldecott_largeRandolph Caldecott

The Man Who Could Not Stop Drawing

by Leonard Marcus

Frances Foster Books (Farrar Straus Giroux), 2013. 64 pages.
Starred Review

I got to hear Leonard Marcus speak about this material at the 75th Anniversary Caldecott Preconference last June in Chicago. There and in this book, he tells why Randolph Caldecott completely changed children’s books, and why his name is a fitting title for the award for the most distinguished picture book each year.

The book is filled with art work done by Caldecott and related images such as pictures of the places he lived or contemporary art work shown for contrast. Every double-page spread has at least two images, usually more. The format is large, like a picture book, but the text is detailed, like a chapter book.

The material is varied as well, with sketches interspersed with watercolors and photographs. The story told is the story of someone who started out as a bank clerk but eventually doodled his way to a distinguished career as an artist who will never be forgotten and who made books for children all the more accessible.

leonardmarcus.com
mackids.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of The Great American Dust Bowl, by Don Brown

Children's Nonfiction Review, Graphic Memoir, History, Starred Review 0

great_american_dust_bowl_largeThe Great American Dust Bowl

written and illustrated by Don Brown

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013. 80 pages.
Starred Review

When I see a history book for kids presented in comic book form, full of facts and graphic details, I think, “Goodness! Why don’t they all do it this way?” I can’t call it a graphic novel, but it’s a graphic history book. It’s in comic book form and doesn’t only tell you what the Dust Bowl was like, it also shows you.

I’ve heard a lot about the dust bowl. But now, with the aid of these pictures, I feel like I know what it was like to experience it.

Don Brown gives us an overarching view, even giving the factors that built up to it, but he also focuses in on the experiences of people. He shows how small people and cars and telephone poles were compared to the clouds of dust. The page about bugs has quite a gross-out factor:

Bugs that should have died in colder, wetter weather or been eaten by birds and bats killed by the drought now turned up everywhere. Centipedes crawled across ceilings and walls, tarantulas marched across kitchens, and black widow spiders lurked in corncribs and woodsheds.

“The ants were so thick and so bad that you could swipe handfuls of them off the table and still have more ants on the table.”

The picture with that shows the woman who is speaking looking askance at a table covered with ants.

There’s a dramatic page, mostly filled with a dust cloud, dwarfing a car and telephone poles. The words written in wavy lines across the cloud say:

Storms could blow for days and be immediately followed by another and another, making for unrelenting blows for weeks on end.

Raging, grit-filled winds shattered windows and scoured the paint off houses and cars.

Trains derailed. Telephone poles were knocked to the ground.

Altogether, Don Brown gives readers vivid detail about the Dust Bowl, and they understand some of the causes and the scope of the problem. (I had never realized before that during that time, even New York City got hit with a dust storm that made lights necessary during daylight hours.) They even have some warnings that it could happen again.

The book is artistic as well. If you leaf through the pages, you notice right away that Don Brown has used different panel arrangements on each set of pages, and keeps the story varied and interesting.

This is history that will stick with you.

hmhbooks.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of A Dance Like Starlight, by Kristy Dempsey and Floyd Cooper

History, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

dance_like_starlight_largeA Dance Like Starlight

One Ballerina’s Dream

by Kristy Dempsey
illustrated by Floyd Cooper

Philomel Books, 2014. 32 pages.
Starred Review

Here’s a beautifully illustrated picture book about a little girl who wants to be a ballerina. Sounds trite? What gives this book extra power is that the little girl is black and lives in Harlem in the 1950s. Her mother works for the ballet school, cleaning and stitching costumes.

One day, the Ballet Master sees the little girl do an entire dance in the wings, from beginning to final bow. After that, he makes an arrangement for her to join lessons each day from the back of the room, even though she can’t perform onstage with white girls.

And every once in a while,
When Mrs. Adams is especially surprised or perhaps even pleased with my form,
She asks me to demonstrate a movement for the whole class.
With every bend, I hope.
With every plié,
every turn,
every grand jete, I hope.
The harder I work, the bigger my hope grows,
and the more I wonder:
Could a colored girl like me
ever become
a prima ballerina?

And then something life-changing happens. She sees an announcement that Janet Collins is going to perform at the Metropolitan Opera House, the first colored prima ballerina. Her Mama makes sure she gets to go.

My favorite picture in the book goes with these words:

In my heart I’m the one leaping across that stage,
raising myself high on those shoulders,
then falling
slowly
slowly
slowly
to the arms below.

It’s like Miss Collins is dancing for me,
only for me,
showing me who I can be.
All my hoping
wells up and spills over,
dripping all my dreams onto my Sunday dress.

The picture shows a close up of Janet Collins in the middle of a leap in front of a packed opera house, with the girl in a graceful leap right beside her.

The Author’s Note at the back explains the historical background:

On November 13, 1951, four years before singer Marian Anderson’s Metropolitan Opera debut, dancer Janet Collins became the first African American hired to perform under contract with the Metropolitan Opera. Though she had been denied the opportunity to dance with other ballet troupes because of the color of her skin, Met Ballet Master Zachary Solov was so taken with her skill and beauty as a dancer, his choreography of the opening night opera was inspired by her movement. Rudolf Bing, general manager of the Met from 1950 to 1972, considered his greatest achievement to be having hired Miss Collins, breaking the barrier that existed for African American performers of the era.

Miss Collins’s performance on opening night and the fact that she was “colored,” as African Americans were called at that time, were both highly publicized in advance. Though I have only imagined this little girl and her mother were at the Met to see Miss Collins perform, I hope many women, regardless of their age or the color of their skin, are inspired to achieve their own dreams through her historic performance.

As if the inspiring story, with its discussion of wishes versus hope, weren’t enough, the art by Floyd Cooper is simply beautiful. This is an uplifting book in every way.

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of To Dare Mighty Things, by Doreen Rappaport

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

To Dare Mighty Things

The Life of Theodore Roosevelt

by Doreen Rappaport
illustrated by C. F. Payne

Disney Hyperion Books, New York, 2013. 44 pages.
Starred Review

This book does exactly what a picture book biography should do. It gives the reader a fantastic introduction to the life of a great man. There are big, beautiful pictures, showing active scenes. The text covers the highlights of his life, beginning with his curious childhood. I especially like the quotations featured on each page, in large bold print.

Here’s text from a two-page spread about his childhood. The quotations are much larger than the rest of the text.

Teedie stuffed hedgehogs into drawers.
Sometimes they escaped.
Guests were warned to check water pitchers for snakes before pouring.

“He has to be watched all the time,” his mother told his father.

He illustrated and wrote books about ants, spiders, ladybugs, fireflies, hawks, minnows, and crayfish.
His fingers were always stained with ink.
He collected animal and bird specimens and created a museum in his room.
He smelled. The whole house smelled.

“All growing boys tend to be grubby; but the ornithological boy is the grubbiest of all.”

Of course, with the cover image simply the head of Theodore Roosevelt, I’d love to see people pose with the book in front of their face.

This is an accessible book for young children, giving them an overview of Theodore Roosevelt’s life and work in a beautiful package that will catch anyone’s interest.

doreenrappaport.com
cfpayne.com
disneyhyperionbooks.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of March, Book One, by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, Graphic Memoir, History, Starred Review 0

March
Book One

by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell

Top Shelf Productions, 2013. 123 pages.
Starred Review
2014 Coretta Scott King Honor Book

This is not a graphic novel, it’s a graphic memoir, and all the contents are true. Congressman John Lewis tells about what it was like for him as a young man involved in the Civil Rights Movement. The comic book format combined with the personal remembrances give this book an immediacy that will stick with the reader.

There’s a frame that’s in place on the day of Barack Obama’s inauguration. The congressman is telling two kids visiting his office what it was like when he was their age. And then he tells how he first heard about people speaking up for civil rights, and how he went to nonviolence training, participated in and organized sit-ins, and began the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

This is only Book One. There’s a sort of prologue scene crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge during the March on Washington. We don’t get that far in the story, though we do learn, right at the start, that of all the speakers that day, John Lewis is the only one who’s still around.

This graphic memoir makes history come alive in a dramatic way.

I’m reading it because it’s the last contender I hadn’t read for School Library Journal’s Battle of the Books, which starts next week. I’m not surprised to find some powerful reading here. It fits in well with the other contenders.

topshelfcomix.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.